MALAYSIA - Four M'sians nabbed for indecent behaviour according to syariah law.
For the first time in Malaysia, four non-Muslims in Kelantan have been issued with summonses for khalwat.
According to syariah law, unmarried Muslims who meet in private can be charged with "khalwat", or "close proximity", which carries fines and prison sentences of several months.
The two men in their 30s were in a car parked beside the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in the north-eastern state, watching planes land in the night, when they were issued with the summonses.
The duo claimed that they were not doing anything indecent.
The other two were a 17-year-old male and a 15-year-old girl.
They were at the Tengku Anis park in the town centre in the middle of the day when enforcement officers approached them and issued them with summonses for indecent behaviour, The Star reported.
The accused have denied they did anything wrong.
They claimed the municipal council's enforcement officers "were merely abusing their position".
State Malaysian Chinese Association Youth chief Gan Han Chuan said the officers "have gone crazy", trying to enforce the hudud (the Islamic criminal code) on non-Muslims.
"This is a first in history where non-Muslims have been issued summonses for khalwat," The Star quoted him as saying. "It is unbelievable. What they do with their by-laws is now affecting the lives of even the non-Muslims."
The incidents came in the wake of a nationwide uproar over the fines imposed on salon operators who allowed their stylists to cut the hair of a customer of a different gender regardless of whether they were Muslims.
Most of the salons affected were owned by non-Muslims.
The two khalwat incidents have riled up even the National Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party Supporters Congress chairman Hu Pang Chaw.
He said the male victims had complained to him that the officers had even sought RM500 (S$200) "to settle the matter".
"As far as I know, the council has no right to issue summonses to non-Muslims for close contact with their girlfriends in the dark or out in the open," he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Action Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has accused the mainstream media of misreporting the incident, liberal news portal Malaysian Insider reported.
Mr Lim claimed that the non-Muslims were fined not for khalwat but for indecent behaviour, but still urged ruling party Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) to resolve the issue quickly to show neither the party nor the Kelantan government is corrupt.
